Road trip

I took a road trip up to the Pacific northwest to visit dog friends and go yarn shopping. I didn't want to bring both dogs since they have very different needs. I ended up choosing to bring Terra, as I thought it would be good for her. She barely ate and only peed twice a day, but she did better than I'd expected with entering new spaces and settling down to sleep. I think in the end it was a net benefit.

Whatcom Falls Park

Reservoir at Mt Tabor Park

On the beach with friend's Corgi, Owen

With Owen

Big dogs, visiting and training with friends

I brought Terra to Rachel's craft party yesterday. We stopped by Point Isabel first so that Terra could run around. She met three Great Danes. She's intimidated by large dogs, even some lab/golden sized ones, and will hunch down and tuck her tail around giant dogs. After the initial greeting, she saw them playing and was curious and snuck up for more sniffing.

Once at Rachel's, she wandered and sniffed everything for an hour, then fell asleep on the couch for the rest of the evening. We did a couple of mini training sessions for conformation. I put on the slip lead, gave the cue for her to stand and watch my hand, and then Rachel or Agnes would reach toward her head. She got a treat for continuing to look at my hand, or for looking back if she got distracted. She did quite well! Agnes was able to touch her chin without Terra looking away.

I took her to the back yard to potty before we left, and she peed right away, which meant that she'd been intentionally holding it while in Rachel's house. Good girl.

Camping weekend

Terra went on her first camping trip, along with my sister and her dog, Frankie. Her behavior was mostly what I expected. She repeatedly held her bladder and bowels as long as she could, as she doesn't like to potty in new places. She picked at her food but ate everything in the end. She dug a hole. She tried to play with Frankie by pawing at him obnoxiously. She loved getting attention from me and Agnes. She woofed at most of the people who walked by our campsite. (Fortunately we were in a spot that didn't have too much traffic.) I was relieved that she didn't once bark at night.

She slept right next to me or on top of me most of the time. During the first night, every time she woke up, she would proceed to wake Agnes and me up by nosing at our faces. During the second night, she was tired from a long night and mostly settled. Once I train her out of bugging us, she'll be a great camp dog.

Potty training update

I've mostly stopped putting Terra in her crate at night or when I leave. She has had a few accidents but they only happened when 1) I was sick and slept in way later than I should have, or 2) I was getting the car serviced and it took longer than I'd been expecting.

She always pees on top of her bed when she does need to go, but thankfully it has a truly waterproof liner, so I just wash the cover and liner and it's good to go.

It's still a bummer to clean up a tsunami of Wolfhound urine, though.

Days 81-87 (11/26/17-12/02/17): visiting friends, CVS, trial, mystery injury

11/27/17:
Terra's weight was 82 pounds.

I took her into the CVS next door to the vet's. She did very well walking around and showed only minimal interest in sniffing merchandise. We even went down a junk food aisle, with me holding the leash very short just in case, but she followed me lead and just walked straight ahead. We worked particularly on "wait," which is difficult for her because she has a lot of momentum to stop! I sat down by the pharmacy to practice settling in public. I cued her to sit and then lured her down. At first she fussed but, as usual for her, she then gave up and just watched the world go by.

On our way out we stopped to let a couple of ladies pass by. They stopped in front of us and one asked if Terra was "friendly." I put my hand out in a "stop" signal and replied, "She's in training and I need her to focus right now." The lady nodded by stared at Terra and then started to make kissy noises. I quelled my rage - I HATE it when people call out to my dog or otherwise try to get its attention without permission - and stuffed a treat into Terra's face. I then side-stepped to my right and gave a leash cue, Terra did a beautiful side-step to join me, and we walked out with the treats continuing.

A friend commented that in the future I should directly address the person's behavior rather than the dog's needs, ie, "don't interact with her." That's a good suggestion. I fell into the trap of using language that is understood by dog nerds but not by ignorant non-dog people. But I am also, clearly, training my dog to ignore people doing that, as some bullies will intentionally try to distract a dog just to be mean.


11/30/17:
We drove down to visit Sherry and act as decoys for a leash reactive client of hers. Terra got excited and pulled toward the other dog when it was just 10 feet away. Otherwise she happily walked around and sniffed as usual.

I wish this photo hadn't been washed out by the sun because her face is so cute!

Taking a break in the bushes.

Om nom nom.

In the evening we visited Rachel for another craft party. Terra pooped (actually had diarrhea) in the back yard shortly after our arrival, but had to stay on the tether for nearly two hours until she finally peed outside. Then she got to be in the house off leash, but was so tired that she just slept on a dog bed until we left.

I had Rachel help me with a short training session. First I put on Terra's "in training" harness and cued her to wait at my side. I rewarded her for staying as Rachel approached, as Rachel said hello, and then as she used the lilting "talking to a dog" voice. It was hard for Terra because she loves Rachel! We need to practice this a lot more with a variety of people so that she will be able to confidently ignore the public.

Then I had Rachel hold a small handful of treats and I practiced hand stacking Terra. It's one way to make a positive association with a conformation "judge" approaching.


12/01/17:
Chimera has his first AKC agility trial today. Since it was on a Friday, the entries were small. I let Terra sleep in the car all morning. She would be in a different position every time I checked on her, but was always sleeping soundly. Finally, after Cai's second run, which was the last run of the day, I brought her out. She wanted to sniff every tree and post we walked by to get information about the other dogs. She wanted to say hello to almost every other dog that passed within 10 feet. I was happy to see her so curious. A loud noise dampened her enthusiasm for a few minutes, but she recovered enough to practice touch, chin, stand-stay, and IYC.

Sometime today Terra hurt herself, probably while playing with her Malinois friend. I think it's something around her back, hips, or hind legs but she didn't respond negatively to me handling her. She's been a little slower to get up and occasionally whining as she does so. At one point she stood up and then hunched over. She still wanted to play with the Malinois but would sometimes get pissed off if the other dog jumped on her back. The Malinois went home so I no longer have to deal with puppies who are desperate to play but have to be kept apart. I'll keep an eye on Terra tomorrow and see how she recovers.

Days 70-77 (11/15/17-11/22/17): socialization trips

11/15/17:
Hiked off leash on the Homestead Trail along with a boarding dog. It was a weekday morning and raining, so we only saw one other person. (Terra was scared of him.) We had to pass a very shallow creek and she was reluctant. Perhaps she remembered the previous two times she'd gone into water with abandon and then regretted. However after I had crossed and was standing on the other side, she had no choice but to follow.

In the evening we visited Rachel. Haley and Frankie crowded Terra as we walked in. I was just telling Rachel that I needed to take her through to the back yard ASAP when I saw that she had done a little submissive tinkling... and then she let her whole bladder loose. So embarrassing. I let her play with the other two for about an hour, and then put her on leash and tethered her to the table where I was knitting. I took her out every 20-30 minutes and on the third trip, she finally peed in the back yard. Then she got to play again for an hour, and then back on the tether until it was time to go.

11/17/17:
We took a trip to PetSmart. I challenged her to walk slightly closer to people than before. She's improving, but slowly.
 
11/19/17:
We've aged out of puppy class, but Nancy transferred our credit to the adolescent level. The classes are in a new location, as well. We practiced going to her mat, hand touches, IYC, and stripping her ears. We wrestled and played tug and ran around. We didn't participate in any of the training exercises the rest of the class did, since they were focused on self-control and practicing polite greetings with strangers. We skipped the play time because I have a dog boarding who plays hard with Terra and I didn't want her to have any extra roughhousing to tax her body.
 
11/20/17:
Weight at vet's is 76.5 lbs.

I needed to buy special cookies at Trader Joe's. This was a new location for her. We walked around the front of the store (away from the stream of people going in and out) and sat on a bench. She fussed at first as she didn't want to wait around, but then she gave up and sat, then laid down.

There is a Babies R Us next door, and I could see that there were very few people inside. We took 2 trips through the store. The first one was in through the entrance and out through the nearby exit right away. The second time, we went down a couple of aisles before leaving. Terra was mildly curious about the merchandise and spots on the floor that she thought might be edible. I kept her moving.

11/22/17:
Today's field trip was to Michael's. She did very well and walking around. She wanted to sniff merchandise here and there, but wasn't obtrusive. (I do let her sniff briefly as I want her to feel comfortable, but I call her to continue onward after a few seconds.) We stopped in the yarn section for a few minutes, as this is a realistic thing for me to do when shopping. She fussed and wanted to keep exploring. I got her to sit (which was great as we, uh, don't practice this ever) and after a minute she inevitably sunk to the floor. It takes so much effort to hold that giant body up!

She tends to pause (and sometimes back up slightly) when people come into her line of sight. I always give a treat immediately. I can see that she is slowly transitioning to worrying less and being more grateful for the treat.

We need more practice with stopping on cue ("wait"). Her attention and leash walking were good though, especially after I switched from the Bark Pouch to beef liver. She seems to like variety in her treats.

Unrelated, I finished stripping her ears today. Now I wait for the rest of the puppy coat to be ready to come out.

Day 63 (11/08/17): rain, Home Depot

We finally had a sprinkling of rain tonight. Terra does not show any reluctance about going out into the rain (unlike a certain other dog who lives here).

I'm still taking her out every 2 hours or so, but now she often doesn't need to pee until 3-4 hours have passed. If she doesn't need to, she wanders around the yard, digging up and eating cat poop. Lovely.

I needed some things from the hardware store, so we went to Home Depot. This was the first time that I actually browsed and purchased something while I had her in a store. I avoid doing real shopping on the first few trips with a dog, so that I can give them my full attention. She gave the side eye to a few items/objects, but mostly walked along fine. Was confused when I pulled a product down and carried it with us. Still wary of people, of course. One woman saw her and gave a very loud "oooo, can I pet her?!" NO

Days 51-62 (10/31/17-11/07/17): rabies, visiting parents, dog friends, outings

10/31/17:
Got rabies vaccination. Terra shied away from Shawn the vet tech. She had been friendly with him before, but he came into the room and toward her too quickly. He was in a hurry because the clinic had an emergency patient, so he couldn't sit with her and let her warm back up to him. So I positioned myself next to her side, blocking her view of what Shawn was doing at her back end, and fed her pieces of chicken. She gave a tiny flinch when he put his hands on her but it seemed surprise/confusion rather than worry.

11/02/17:
My sister dropped off her little dog Frankie for the weekend. Terra and Frankie love each other.

11/03/17-11/04/17:
I packed up Terra, Chimera, and Frankie, and drove two hours south to visit my parents. Along the way we had a private lesson with Vicki Ronchette (will detail in a separate post).

Terra loves my mom (all my dogs do, probably because she and I are very similar). She's wary of my dad. By chance, he kept startling her by popping up in doorways. I realized what was happening toward the end of the visit and told him that if he remembered to talk as he was coming around the corner, she wouldn't be startled and run away. She did approach him to sniff here and there, but would retreat when he would turn toward her or reach for her.

My mom and I took the dogs for a long walk on Friday evening. Between that, playing with Frankie, and just the general excitement, Terra was tired out on Saturday.

We had one potty accident, right as we got back from the walk. She had a full bladder but she is not relaxed enough to potty while walking unless she absolutely can't hold it anymore. Lesson learned - next time I'll take her straight to the back yard as we come in.

She didn't chew anything up except for a shell that fell from a shelf while the dogs were running around.

I brought her big crate and she was comfortable in it overnight.

A few times while we were in the back yard, she heard sudden noises from neighboring yards and alarm barked. She was also uncomfortable with the neighboring dogs doing territorial/alarm barking (which is common for puppies).

11/05/17:
Rachel and Eli brought Halley over while we butchered chickens with a couple other friends. I left all the dogs in the back yard. Terra played a little, dug a little, and sunbathed.

11/06/17:
We visited Sherry for the day. Terra played with a few other dogs. She was wiped out that evening.

11/07/17:
Had agility class in the morning, though Cai injured his foot so we left early. Terra was quiet as I left her and Cai to walk the course, but barked loudly when I took Cai out for our turn. I think I'll ask another student to feed her chicken while we run.

We stopped by the vet's for a weight - 71.5 lbs, which is an increase of 5.5 lbs in 7 days!

We went to Lowe's for a socialization trip. Terra was generally more comfortable walking all around the store. She startled at some loud noises. She was uncomfortable with people passing close by us.

In the evening we went downtown. There weren't a lot of people out since it was a Tuesday night. Terra initially was suspicious of the gourds lining the sidewalks, but her curiosity won out. She investigated, then dismissed them.

General:
She's been sleeping longer through the night, but still wakes me up to go out between 6 and 8 am. She goes back into the crate afterwards without a fuss.

She doesn't like pork but I bought it in bulk so I've been struggling to get her to eat all her meals lately. I've been adding chicken broth, warm water, and bacon fat. Not even all that is enough. I will have to buy some more beef or chicken and mix it 50/50.

Recap Days 35-46 (10/15/17 - 10/26/17): food, socialization with dogs, people, & places

It's been a while since I updated Terra's blog because I've been in a depressive episode and couldn't keep up. Some of her training has fallen behind, but I've continued to take her out and about. She has more energy now and needs more play and training and exercise to settle easily at bedtime.

Her weight as of yesterday is 61.5 lbs. She's small for her age, but she's growing and looks and acts healthy. She's lost a bunch of teeth and her adult molars are coming in. She's having trouble chewing and I've been grinding up all of her raw meat. I stopped giving her meaty bones because she was chewing them up the bare minimum needed to be able to swallow giant chunks, and then wasn't digesting them properly. I hope to add them back in once more of her adult teeth come back in. In the meantime she's getting bone meal mixed into her meat and organs and other supplements. I also mix in chicken broth or a small amount of bacon grease with warm water to encourage her to eat it all. Otherwise she doesn't want to eat when there's a change of protein source.

Here are the highlights of our adventures for the past 12 days:
My pushy Belgian Malinois client stayed for five days. When Terra was younger and less confident, I had been very worried about having this dog stay with me again. But this was good timing - the girls loved each other and Terra was just as pushy to play with her. At first I had to hover and referee to make sure the Malinois wasn't knocking Terra around. The more I intervened and prevented her from punching and jumping on Terra, the calmer the play was and I could relax somewhat. I'm looking forward to having them together when Terra is larger and less vulnerable. They'll be good playmates.

We visited Miki and her two little kids again. Once again Terra kept wanting to approach and lick their faces. They were not as into it. I'd love to get her around some kids who are older and dog-savvy.

Her vaccinations are all done other than rabies, which I didn't want to give at the same time. The tech was great - massaged her shoulders and slipped the needle in quickly. I play-wrestled with Terra's head while she did it, and the pup didn't even notice.

Took a second trip into Lowe's and two into PetSmart. She's more confident every time. The last trip to PetSmart, we were able to do rapid-fire training on hand touch, chin target, eye contact, stand-stay, and walking at my side. We also took a break to sit/lie on the floor and look around.

Chimera had a Fast CAT trial and of course I took Terra along for socialization. She had some brief moments of being overwhelmed but really settled in. She wanted treats and play and pulled toward people standing nearby to get petting (particularly women, but also a few men). Met an adult female Wolfhound and they sniffed each other's privates but were not as excited to see each other as I'd expected.

We've had some negative experiences around men, when they approached too close too quickly. Sometimes it's hard to stop people in time. I need to get faster; my natural reticence to engage with strangers gets in the way.

Had another session of puppy class. We were able to participate in an exercise in which we paired up and practicing approaching and walking past other owners and puppies. I had string cheese, which seems to be her highest value treat so far. We skipped the play time at the end because I'm worried about Terra playing too rough and scaring another puppy, and harming its socialization. She gets plenty of social time with other dogs at home and when visiting friends, and currently her social skills are just right for her age.

Went to Cai's Agility class and hung out in a heavy duty x pen I brought. She wasn't worried about being there but got upset when I would walk away (whining, demand-barking, and pawing at the pen). She also dug holes in the gravel. Next time I need to bring a thick mat and fresh chew, and a separate crate for Cai so he doesn't steal it.

She loves to dig - she's also tried to dig holes in the wood chips in the yard (doesn't get far because there is landscape fabric over the ground) and in dirt while we were on a walk.

When she's bored or wants something she sometimes raises her paws and scratches at the wall. Noooooo bad puppy!

Visited Auntie Agnes yesterday and played nicely with little Frankie and was much more comfortable walking along busy Mission St. Peed three times in the condo and didn't pee when we took her outside to a quiet area. She's banned from visiting again until she's potty trained/more comfortable peeing in public. She does get agitated and pace just before peeing indoors but it's hard to recognize because she also walks all around the place because she's excited and wants to check things out and play. I can tell when she's about to poop because she raises her tail up a few paces beforehand.

Day 34 (10/14/17): visitors, peeing in crate, nose work

Terra didn't get out of the house today, but two pairs of clients came by. The first couple came into the kitchen as I let her in from the yard. I had to immediately put her into the bedroom because their dog guards them and might have laid into her. I had to push and pull on her to get her away from the people. I got her behind the baby gate between the kitchen and bedroom, and she manded (sat) and pawed at the gate repeatedly because she wanted so badly to greet them. YAY!

Later in the day, another couple whom she knows well came by, and she ran right up to them with her tail wagging wide, alternating who she approached and leaned into for petting.

The one low point in the day was that she peed in her crate while I was out for 3 hours. The urine didn't have any smell to it, so she must have loaded up on water shortly before I left and I didn't notice. And because there was a lot of it and the puddle spread across her bed, she then lay in it. I rubbed her down thoroughly with a wet towel but I sense another bath in her near future.

Switched a few things up for today's nose work session and she did beautifully. Here's what I wrote on the forum:
1. I recorded with my webcam, which is mounted about 5' up. You can see that I live in a tiny apartment! Recording from higher up allowed me to move around more. The downside is that it's hard to see where her nose is when she's not facing the camera, and I didn't want to obsess over that and ruin the fun. You'll just have to trust me that I was rewarding as soon as her nose hovered over the tin, and she was dead on every time that she chose to move toward it.
2. I used fresh cooked chicken as the reward, and right before dinner. On the first few hides she was distracted by the chicken hand, but on the last two she went straight to the tin!
3. Started with IYC in the hand, then on the box, floor, box, floor, box. I don't think she has any trouble with the concept of doing the game on the floor; only the same initial distraction by the chicken hand. (I'm looking forward to RLGL helping with this later on.)
4. I rewarded only one target to each hide, then removed the tin, and physically moved to a different spot. So we got 6 reps in in exactly 1 minute, and she stayed interested the entire time!!

Let me know how we should proceed. More of the same? Add duration? More floor work? Put tin in container?

Day 30 (10/10/17): agility class, car show downtown

I gambled that Terra could wait an extra ten minutes this morning while I showered, but I lost - she peed in her crate. Between that and frequently rolling around outside, she has gotten stinky and desperately needs a bath. Hopefully tomorrow.

I had skipped agility class last week because I overslept, but we made it today. I ran Cai twice, then put him in the car and got Terra out. At first we stayed far from the field and walked along the adjacent pasture fences. She saw a goat and a sheep about 100 feet away. She stopped and was unsure. We walked away. A horse came right up to another fence and put his head over. She spooked at the movement and gave a half whine, half growl when we didn't move away quickly enough. But as soon as the leash was loose at a distance she felt was safe, she sat and watched the horse. After a minute she ignored him and lay down facing away from him, toward the field.

As the handlers walked the final course and so there were no dogs on the field, I walked her across and to the opposite side. We hung out in the area where people crate their dogs. Terra was moderately nervous about walking past the people, but curious about the nearest dog and pulled toward him after we'd stopped. I moved her over, then we hung out and watched the class. She laid down. She rolled onto her side. She got gravel stuck to her lips and gums (ew). We wrestled. She got up and pulled toward the dog again. The teeter was on the far side of the course and she didn't react to the noise other than orienting to it. If I remember, I'll bring a pen for her next time and let her hang out through the entire class. She does so well with habituation.

This evening was the final classic car show for 2018 in downtown Winters. It takes place over two small blocks, with mostly classic muscle cars parked along the street for visitors to chat about. I put on her "in training" vest, parked in the park, and slowly headed over. She alternated between needing to stop and look around, and being okay with walking. We stayed on the quieter block, where maybe 20 people mingled at once.

We practiced passing people or getting out of the way of people. We practiced walking at my side. She's not really used to the leash restricting her movements, as usually I let her lead the way and sniff around. This time I needed to use the leash to stop her moving in this or that direction. She would often turn in a circle when she felt the tension, confused about the best way to remedy the situation. Oops, bad trainer - we haven't really practiced this at home, and that would be a big benefit to her. On the bright side, I gave her lots of freeze dried beef liver treats and she seemed to understand walking at my side and staying with me at turns. That comes naturally to her since she's so clingy!

I had to stop a few people from approaching us. A few others asked what she was in training for, which caught me off guard. I'm focusing on socialization and confidence building but at the same time I'm working on basic manners and it's all working toward a goal of being a confident sports dog as well as a pet dog I can take anywhere. I said "basic training."

We didn't get close to the clown.

The show wrapped up and most of the drivers left around sundown. Terra did not like the loud engine noises (I didn't either) but was less stressed by them toward the end. I give this trip a B-.

The current boarding dog has had a few barking fits in the yard. Terra now mostly ignores them. HOORAY!!!

Day 24 (10/04/17): training progress, visiting Agnes

Training is still progressing in baby steps, but I saw progress in multiple skills today. She's getting the hang of deliberately working for the treats. I got a little bit of duration at source in Nose Work, and more consistent duration of 4-5seconds in stand-stay. She was going to the mat with more intent rather than looking like she happened to wander on it. (I'm still working on getting her to go to the mat and then pause on her own.) We worked on IYC with eye contact while she was lying down and I kneeled in front of her, which was a new picture for her. The best one was that I got great nose touches to my hand target with both hands. I would toss the reward away and she was quickly returning to earn the next one.

We wrestled on the floor when training was done.

Today's field trip was to visit Auntie Agnes in San Francisco. She lives on a busy street and the number of people around was overwhelming for Terra, especially when they were walking right toward us. But as soon as we got off the main street, she was didn't react negatively to anything around her. She even peed on the sidewalk, though I had to stand and let her circle around me for a couple minutes first.

Once we were inside the apartment, she immediately relaxed and started exploring. Agnes' little dog, Frankie, was excited and zooming back and forth. The first few passes made Terra uneasy, but soon they started playing and were both running back and forth. So adorable. We did have to institute breaks as Frankie would wind up rather than correcting her as Chimera does.

When Frankie had had enough, he jumped up onto the couch next to Agnes and settled down. He growled when Terra got too close, and she definitely understood that message. She wandered around a little bit and found toys and chews, then settled on the rug and fell asleep. Such an easy puppy.

Amy said, "She looks like a muppet." She really does.

At the end I asked Agnes to practice the hand target, and Terra quickly recognized it and did 4 successful targets in a row. Then Agnes tried to do the stand-stay but Terra didn't recognize the cue and tried to just get petting or walk around. Thanks Agnes for helping do a little generalization for us!

Food-wise, Terra is back on 100% raw and doing well. I added a quarter of a daily portion of chicken liver and pork kidney to her breakfast and dinner. She didn't like the organs, which I've heard is fairly common. I minced them finely and mixed them into her breakfast and she just left a few pieces of organ in the bowl. At dinner I chopped a less finely, and she ate around it.

Day 20 (09/30/17): two more people, crate barking, play, farm animals

The boarding doodle when home this morning, so no more easy way of tiring the puppy out, haha. A new boarding dog got dropped off but she is initially scared of new dogs so I have to keep them separate.

Terra was in her crate and the bedroom door was closed when the dog's owners arrived, as I wasn't sure if they had brought their dog to the front door or left her in the car. This worked out great because Terra heard them come in but it was a less intense moment. The dog was in the car, so I had the owners bring her supplies in, and when I brought the crate into the bedroom Terra was excited and wanted to come out. She immediately approached the owners, did mildly tentative sniffing, then got some petting but wasn't quite as into it as she has been other times. I bet if they had given her treats she would have felt even more friendly and wanted more petting afterwards, as that's what's happened before. As it was, she just settled down on the floor after a moment, but was nice and relaxed.

She had to spend more time in the crate than usual for the afternoon and early evening, and boy did she give me an earful. When she was having diarrhea, she learned that she could wake me up by whining and/or barking and I would take her out. That was useful then, but now she needs to UNlearn it. She quiets down quickly if I am outside of the house (as when I walked the boarding dog around the orchard), but when I'm home she thinks that the barking will work for her.

I gave her a frozen kong I'd made with Honest Kitchen and a "seal" of peanut butter. She loves the PB but only bothered to get part of the HK out. It's not so interesting since she gets it all the time. I have a few more kongs in the freezer but next time I'll put more unusual things in them - I didn't want to go wild at the beginning since I was still nervous about her tummy. Fortunately all has been well on that front. It seems like the roundworms really were the problem (probably combined with stress), and not the food change by itself.

We played tug and she was pulling hard until some blood appeared on the toy and she switched to just regripping and chewing on it. I hope I find her baby teeth! Cai swallowed all of his except one.

We did mat shaping again, and this time I had Cai in the room lying on his mat. He did perfectly; he didn't get up even once. I also had her follow the target stick around my body, to introduce the concept of following the target to learn another behavior (ie, right finish, or circling around)

She tried to play with Cai while they were outside together. She barked and pawed at him. He usually hates this and corrects strongly, but he seems to have formed an attachment to her and only gave half-hearted corrections, and didn't bother moving away from her when she stopped. A few times he even jumped toward her head with his front paws up, which was a play move. I was quite surprised.

We took a walk around the front of the house with Terra on a long line and deciding where to go (as long as she didn't try to eat goat or cat poop). She saw the goats, chickens, and cats. She was mostly relaxed and curious. She just got spooked when the rooster flew up into a tree, making loud ungainly flapping noises, and when one of the goats lowered her head and took a few steps forward in a clear threat display (which she never follows up on).

She pooped while we were out. So far Terra has pooped on asphalt, gravel, wood chips, and grass. No weird substrate preferences here!

Spoiled puppy.

What a goof.

No idea how her ears turned into corkscrews.

Growing!

She loves this rubbery toy.

Day 4 (09/14/17): potty accidents and diarrhea

Terra can't catch a break.

She slept through the night. She even slept through my boarding Welshie barking for 90 minutes straight starting at 6 am. When I finally got up I saw that Terra was rolled over onto her back as usual. I took the Welshie out first, dealt with her frantic greeting, and put her outside. Meanwhile Terra woke up and also starting barking, which I thought was in response to the other dog, but just before I got back to her she let loose her bladder inside her crate.

She got a chicken wing and thigh for breakfast, a large amount of ground chicken, and her supplements. I have chicken livers and beef kidneys defrosting in the fridge. I can start her on a balanced prey model diet as soon as they defrost.

She went back into her crate as the client dog with separation anxiety and rude greetings was back for another four hour stint. She barked here and there, but not often and not for long. The last hour was completely quiet. When the owners came to pick him up and there was a lot of activity, Terra woke up and gave the same frantic barking as from this morning right before she peed. I went into the bedroom and found that she had pooped in her crate and it was also on her shoulder and neck. It was already cold, and looked like it has originally been solid poop. I think what happened was that she had pooped early on, and then gave up on complaining, and ended up rolling on top of it when she did her cute sleeping on her back thing. And when there was activity in the kitchen and she woke up, she was upset about the poop. In any case, more bedding went into the wash, crate and floor were cleaned up, and puppy and myself got baths.

Everything was calm for a few hours. Then she had diarrhea around 6 pm. I had a training appointment at 7 pm and took her with me so that I could get her out more frequently. She peed right before the appointment, then slept in the car the entire time. I walked her around the block afterwards and three more fountains of liquidy diarrhea came out of her butt.

Came home, more diarrhea, and scraped a sample for the vet off my floor.

On the bright side, she was perky, playful, and drinking a lot of water. She tried very hard to invite the Welshie to play with her by bouncing around and barking. (Welshie ignored her as she was only concerned with greeting me.)

I went to bed crossing my fingers that Terra would bark again and wake me up if she needed to poop during the night...

First 24 hours (09/11/17): sleeping, shyness, training, nails

I met Terra in person on Friday evening, stayed at her previous home for the weekend, and we flew home on Sunday night (yesterday).

She spent most of today sleeping, either in her crate (while I napped) or in the kitchen (while I did everything else). She is still recovering from her long day yesterday, and giant breed puppies sleep a lot anyway. The first 24 hours were easy peasy.

In the evening we walked around the front of the barn and she got brief glimpses at the cats and goats (the goats were scary). Then we drove to the grocery store and walked around the parking lot and storefronts. Currently Terra is lightly overwhelmed in busy, new places. On a scale of 1 (petrified and completely shut down or trying to escape) to 10 (unfazed and curious, actively exploring), I would put her right in the middle. So we have lots of careful socialization and confidence building ahead of us.

We started training by doing 3 short sessions of capturing eye contact and 1 session of touching her nose to a target stick. She is still learning how to take small treats from my hand.

I trimmed her nails while she was half asleep.

No potty accidents. I am teaching the cues "go potty" for peeing and "business" for pooping.

Welcome home!

This is Bad Wolf's Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey, AKA Terra, an Irish Wolfhound. She is currently 13 weeks and 3 days old, and as of 4 days ago she weighed 41.9 pounds.

I have high hopes for Terra, though I know how to temper them to realistic expectations. If my wildest dreams come true, we will be competing in conformation, competition obedience, and nose work at the least. She will be a dream at the vet's with 100% cooperative care. She will not be reactive to dogs, people, noises, or motion, and will be able to go everywhere with me. She will have fabulous social skills with other dogs.

For now, we are working on socialization, crate training, chew training, not pawing for attention (she already knows to sit instead of jumping), potty training, and leash walking. She got a head start on all of these things at her breeder's, who followed the Puppy Culture program. My thanks to Amanda Baerwald Spencer of Bad Wolf Irish Wolfhounds.